Lamb Shanks with Potatoes

2 pounds lamb shanks

3 cups boiling water

1 cup tomato sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Arabian Spice(combination of cinnamon,allspice,cardamom,black pepper)

3 potatoes, peeled and sliced in ½ inch slices

Place lamb shanks in a deep pot. Sauté for 5 minutes and turn on both sides. Add onions, garlic, salt and spices and stir. Add tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Add water and stir. Cover pot and simmer on medium low heat for 90 minutes. When shanks are tender, add the potatoes and adjust the salt and spices. Simmer for 30 more minutes until potatoes are tender.

Serve with saffron rice, and salad.

Wheat Berry Salad

This salad is very filling and you can enjoy it as a vegetarian dish or as side dish with grilled meat.

You can purchase this wheat from Middle Eastern grocery stores or Health Food stores. We usually cook this wheat as a pilaf with meat stock and serve it warm with lamb shanks or chicken. I wanted to make a salad to serve with crab cakes and decided to boil the berries and mix with veggies.

Wheat berries take at least one hour to cook. I try to soak them in water overnight or for a few hours before I boil them. They will cook faster within 20 minutes.

2 cups wheat berries, soaked in water for 6 hours

4 cups water

1 tablespoon salt

1 Persian cucumber chopped

5 radishes, chopped

½ cup parsley, chopped

1 sprig of scallions, chopped

½ cup black olives

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

Dash of black pepper

¼ cup olive oil

In a deep pot, bring water to a boil. Strain the wheat berries and put them in boiling water. Cover the pot halfway and leave it to cook for 30 minutes. When the berries are soft, put the wheat berries in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Transfer the berries to a salad bowl and drizzle the vinegar and olive oil, and lemon juice over the berries. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Add olives, cucumbers, scallions, parsley and radishes, and stir. Cover and refrigerate for an hour for the flavors to blend.

You can add chopped tomatoes and celery if you wish.

Serve it with grilled chicken, or fish.